The NYC Report: PSAL Championships!

Editor’s Note: Welcome to the New York City Report, brought to you by Apple Lacrosse, NYC’s first lacrosse store! Each week Billy Nguyen dives deep into the world of NYC lacrosse and focuses on high school play, college commits, photos, and more!

The PSAL boys varsity lacrosse quarter and semifinal rounds wrapped up this week in New York City.

In the Championship Division, Tottenville and New Dorp will battle it out in the title game for State Island AND City bragging rights. Over in the Bowl Division, first year team Eagle Academy and Bronx Science advanced into the Championship game after their semifinal wins. Both boys and girls Championship and Bowl games will be played on May 18th at Aviator Sports Complex in Brooklyn.

The Girls B Finals will be at 10AM. The Boys B will be at 12:30pm. The Girls A will be at 3pm. And The Boys A will be played at 5:30pm.

2014 PSAL All-Americans

PSAL All-Americans have also been announced with Alexander Becerra and Nicholas De Meo of Tottenville and Philip Nguyen of Herbert H. Lehman taking the home the huge honors. De Meo and Becerra are both Seniors, while Nguyen is a Junior. Noah Kramer of Stuyvesant was named Academic All-American, and is also a Senior. Kramer was named as an All-American last year.

The Mayor’s Cup

Mayor’s Cup rosters for CHSAA boys and PSAL boys and girls have been announced. Independant boys and girls rosters have not been announced yet but you can stay up to date with the Mayor’s Cup series on www.facebook.com/nycmayorscup. The NYC Mayor’s Cup Lacrosse all-star games are for seniors only from all three respective leagues, and the games will be played at Poly Prep Country Day School on May 31st and June 1st.

PSAL Playoffs – How Did We Get Here?

The numbers in parentheses are the team’s pre tourney seeds.

(1)Tottenville proved to be too much for (8)Hunter College HS on Tuesday. Tottenville went up early and led 5-0 at the half. Hunter put in 2 goals in the 3rd but the stellar defense of the Pirates really limited the quality of shots from the Hawks. 2x All-American Becerra got the job done between the lines while Nicholas De Meo controlled the tempo on the offensive end with 2 goals and 5 assists.

(4)Frederick Douglass Academy and (5)Curtis both traveled to James Madison HS in Brooklyn on Tuesday (due to FDA not having a real home field). FDA edged Curtis by 1 with a 5-4 win. Uchenna Akusobi and Kenneth Davis each had 2 goals to lead the Lions while Michael Vescera netted 2 for the Warriors. Goaltending was strong on both sides with Omar Algahiko stopping 10 shots and Evander Casper making 8 saves including 3 at the the end to shut the door on Curtis.

NYC Games of the Week

(4)FDA proceeded to travel to Tottenville on Thursday to take on the Pirates under the lights. Both teams were extremely excited for this game, the atmosphere was incredible, playing under the night lights and a boisterous crowd. This game was close the entire way, it was all even at 5 entering the 4th quarter, and FDA took it’s first lead of the game midway through the 4th. With 2 minutes to go though, the Pirates were up 8-6. FDA won important draws and scored off the jump sending the game to OT. It was an incredible comeback, while there was a huge momentum shift, a couple of key penalties and mistakes ended FDA’s championship hopes, including a costly warding and mouthpiece penalty in OT.

The Pirates capitalized with Drew Andersen dunking it in OT off of a feed from All-American Nicholas De Meo to send Tottenville back to the PSAL boy’s Championship Division finals. Kenneth Davis finished with 8 points (6&2), De Meo finished with 6 (4&2), while both goalies Joe Badille and Evander Casper played phenomenal with 10 stops each. Tottenville edged FDA 9-8 and will continue on to face a hot New Dorp team in the final.

On the other side of the bracket, (2)Cardozo bested (7)James Madison 11-6 in Queens on Tuesday. James Madison started the game strong and ended strong, but couldn’t get the job done in between to upset Cardozo. Kyle Marino and Michael Morgan continued to carry the Knights with hat tricks. Amit Ramsarran continued his streaky play netting 4 goals while the speedy Ryan Mook did all of the dirty work from the midfield, netting a hat trick.

(6)Lehman took on (3)New Dorp in Staten Island on Tuesday, and the Lions had no answer for Dawayadah Winn, the speedster netted 5 goals while dishing out 3 assists and scooping up 7 groundballs. He was a force in New Dorp’s 9-6 win. Philip Nguyen and Michael Aguilera had strong performances but the Lions needed that extra push from younger players. Watch out for this Lehman team next year, but for now, New Dorp has really been capitalizing all of their chances and if they can continue to create opportunities and play strong defense, this may be their year.

(3)New Dorp proved why they are one of the top programs in the city against (2)Cardozo. The Cougars come into Queens and won in emphatic fashion 13-2. Frank Bakakos and the defensive unit were playing out of their mind. Cardozo just could not seem to get it going against this New Dorp defense. Wade Ngai did everything he could for the Judges, recording 24 saves. New Dorp has made a statement in this semifinal game and will advance to championship Sunday.